We offer a severance plan (funded and audited) and you cannot defer. We can take money out to pay 401(k) loans, but that's about it. Like Luke said, we inform people about the severance well in advance so they can work out if they can put more into the 401(k) while working knowing that there will be a big chunk of money coming once they retire. We also cash out Annual Leave which we CAN defer into a 401(k).